About Me & How to Teach English in JapanAll the articles at the site are by me unless otherwise stated. The Story
"Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. " - Confucius About Me My name is Kevin Burns and I have now lived in Japan for over twenty years. Pictured: Is my Japanese wife Ikumi, and our three great kids. They are all bilingual. Wish I was! At about seven years old I got the idea in my head that one day I had to go to Japan. I`m not sure why exactly, but I think I had been watching a documentary about Expo in Japan or the Olympics in Tokyo. Life always seemed to lead me in the direction of Japan. My brother brought a very good Japanese friend home one day, her name was Kumiko and she was great! She was very kind to me I remember. At 12, I played in a local tennis tournament and in the final I beat Ken Iwasaki, a Japanese-Canadian. He and I became best friends and I often visited his home, which was an oasisof Japanese culture. I enjoyed looking at their raven hair,and deep brown, almond eyes. I tried Japanese food and enjoyed looking at their souvenirs and furniture from Japan. It was all so different from my house. I had always prided myself on being funny. It was who I was I felt.
I dreamed of one day being a famous comedian like one of my idols, Steve Martin or a comedic actor like Michael J. Fox (also from the Vancouver area).
After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Theatre (minor in History), I pursued my dream of comedy dominance. I performed at Punchlines and Yuk Yuk`s in Vancouver, I was interviewed and did a little comedy on CBC radio and I made my (drunken) friends laugh!
I came to realize however that it was very difficult. At 24 I envisioned a career as a standup comedian, traveling from city to city, performing in various comedy venues and making around 2,000 dollars a month. It wouldn`t have been enough for me.
What I really wanted was a home (with a white picket fence), akind, caring wife and children. I didn`t want to be out on the road all the time for work. I wanted a home. I also wanted the time and money to be able to travel when I wanted and where I wanted. Not from Brandon, to Winnipeg to Sudbury on the cold, Canadian comedy circuit, but to Paris, London, Phuket or Bali whenever I wanted. I thought Japan would be a great base for that. Make my living in a safe, interesting and financially powerful country,and use that highly valued currency to travel in other countries.It worked! I have traveled all over the world! Yet I still wanted more...Teaching has been great in many, many ways. I have a good income and a lot of freedom to travel and yet...
I have always worked towards more, and more financial and personal freedom. I read about others who have done it, and that has inspired me.
While working for Columbia College during the summers off from university, I had the pleasure of getting to know hundreds of Japanese students. I found them charming and again Japan kept calling to me.
More about me and my Desire to go to Japan
I talked with everyone I knew who had ever lived and taught in Japan. I got to know as many Japanese as I could in Vancouver, and then at 25 I decided that I would go to Japan and teach for a year. I never left!
One of my tenets through life has always been to try as much as possible to work smart. What I mean is, work hard but don`t spend any more time at work than you have to, and do things you enjoy doing as much as possible--including of course, doing work you enjoy.
Teaching ironically is full of comedic opportunities. So now I am paid to be a funny teacher. I really enjoy it! I try to be funny when I write too.
I am a fan of Dr. Wayne Dyer and he has always striven to have more and more freedom in his life. Freedom in what he chooses to do, and financial freedom. That is the reason I started this website and others. I now have three SBI websites, (that is the software I have used to create my sites.)
Freedom is what I am all about! I always want more freedom and tend to give my students a lot of freedom too. Maybe I give my children too much freedom!
Teaching in Japan can be quite lucrative once you are here for a while. It can be fairly lucrative in monetary terms, it is also very lucrative in terms of giving you free time for yourself.
Our fast paced, fast food society is so time demanding. I look all around me and see many people working overtime at jobs they don`t really like. Does this sound like you? I hope not!
I love writing, and I love helping people. I enjoy being funny and I can do that when I write or teach. So a website like this has been right up my alley! I can work on the website anywhere with internet access.
I make money from it while on holiday in Bali, while lying on the beach in the Philippines, or laughing at my brother`s silly jokes over a beer in Vancouver.
How do I make money
From google ads, and from other affilliate marketing ads. If you click on one of the ads and buy something, I make a little money each time.
I knew very little about website design or HTML but SBI gives you what you need to know in easily digestible tidbits (or Timbits) as we might say in Canada.
Teaching, and this website has given me the freedom to spend time with my family and pursue my hobbies and dreams, and pay the bills, coupled with foreign travel. It has been win-win all around. I wish you the same!
Some people say they wouldn`t know what to write about or they can`t write. Non-native English speakers have made very successful SBI websites. With SBI`s Brainstorm it software, you are able to see which topics are profitable and which are not.
I love writing, travel and freedom so SBI has been a natural fit for me.
I hope you enjoy my site, and that it has given you pause for thought about whether you would like to make a site like mine.
Tanoshiin de yonde kudasai! (Japanese for: I hope you enjoy reading!)
Kevin (or as the Japanese say--Keibeen)
"When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change." -Wayne Dyer
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(Pictured) is our Canadian home in Kanagawa, Japan. It was imported pre-cut from Cloverdale, British Columbia. I love our house! We even have a basement. Hey I`m Canadian eh!
